Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - My Review

This evening my buddy Rupert and I went to a screening of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Paramount lot. It wasn't in their largest theater but one of their smaller less impressive theater.

I'm sure everyone knows who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are... but just in case. The characters originated in The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book before their expansion into a cartoon series, films, video games, toys, and other general merchandise. During the peak of the franchise’s popularity in the late 1980s through the early 1990s, it gained considerable worldwide success and fame. This is a reboot of the franchise.

Before I give you my review let me say that I never read the comic book, I may have seen bits and pieces of the cartoon and I've never watched the 3 movies. So I'm coming into this not really knowing anything about it. With that said I really enjoyed this movie. The effects are amazing, the story was good, simple and made sense. I loved that each of the turtles looks different and had very different personalities. There was a ton of humor and action, a nice balance of each.

I know haters are going to hate, they'll complain about the look of the turtles, Megan Fox, Michael Bay, blah blah blah... that's just what they do but I enjoyed the movie. It did was it set out to do.. entertain me. I will consider buying this when it comes out on blu-ray. I give Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a solid B.

Melissa, Joey, Working Out & Galavant

So I got up this morning, and started watching a new sitcom called Melissa and Joey. Melissa & Joey is an ABC Family original television series starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence that premiered back in 2010. I've seen commercials for it and it looked cute so I thought I'd give it a go. Though I am watching a few other series I like these quick 22 minute per episode series. I'm a few episodes in and I'm really enjoying it.

Well that was until my 60" 5 1/2 year old TV died. Yep, I go to turn it on and instead of the green "on" light I get the dreaded red "lamp" light. So I'm hoping the fix is just replacing the lamp. I don't know how hard or easy that will be or the cost but I figure it should be cheaper then buying a new TV.

I came across several videos that I wanted to share with you guys...

First is a one of the most honest workout videos that I have ever seen. It's totally me when I go to a gym.. both the girl and the guy :)

Next is a new TV series that's coming to ABC this fall called Galavant. It's a fairy tale-themed musical comedy television series. Yeah it sounds crazy and after watching the trailer I'm still not sure about it but I'll defiantly be watching. It kind of reminds me of Princess Bride but with musical numbers.

Later in the evening I went to Paramount to see a screening of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my buddy Rupert. I'll be posting a review on a separate blog.

Animated Who, Peter Hollens, Hobbit & Camp Abercorn

I have several videos and things to share with you guys today...

First a friend posted this on Facebook. It's just a fan made opening sequence to The Animated Adventures Of Doctor Who. It's extremely well done that if you didn't know any better you swear this is real.. alas it is not. But it's still fun to watch and dream.

I came across a you tube singer. I saw his video for Gollum's Song from Lord of the Rings. And I was so impressed with him vocals that I dug further and found a whole slew of amazing covers sung by this guy. His name is Peter Hollens and he uses nothing but his voice, sounds from his mouth and claps to produce some amazing harmonies and songs. But not only is his music great but the video from them are also very well produced. Here's the video that got me started Gollum's Song and The Misty Mountain song.. he's so amazing.

Speaking of Gollum and Lord of the Rings.. Warner Brothers released a deleted scene from the upcoming release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition. It arrives on Blu-ray November 4th! Featuring 25 minutes of new and extended scenes, and 9 hours of new bonus content. I SO CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

And last but not least I backed a new webseries that looked really good. It's called Camp Abercorn.
Every summer hundreds of thousands of Scouts head off to summer camp at hundreds of places just like Camp Abercorn. Each faces their own individual challenges, and writes their own stories.

Camp Abercorn is a dramatic web series about the blunders and the victories—an authentic portrayal of life on camp staff. For ten weeks each summer Camp Abercorn becomes a bustling wonderland of activity for boys, guided by their fearless leaders—the camp staff.

To tell our stories we’ve created the Compass Guides of America, a fictional organization that parallels the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that we regard with the utmost respect and appreciation because we were Scouts, too.

Hawkins, Birthdays & The Quest

Started day with TV issues.. my 60" TV has been going dark the past month or so. Now it's taking a few minutes to actually start up. I mean I hear the audio but the picture takes a while to start up. I don't think it's going to last much longer.

So I came across this movie called The Theory of Everything gave the trailer a watch. It's actually the life story of Stephen Hawkins and I have to say it looks really good. I don't know if he is involved with this movie, but I hope he is. I don't really know much about the man but after seeing the trailer he looks to have had one of the most romantic love stories in a long while. I'm looking forward to seeing this when it hits theaters. Check out the trailer below.

Another video caught my eye and left me mesmerized. I kept trying to figure out how it works.

I came across another cute video that reminded me of my life. It's Murphy's Law, what ever line I get into it will move the slowest.

Headed out to celebrate the Birthday of my buddy Dallas, we went to this interesting high end burger place out in Glendale. I couldn't afford a $10 dollar burger so instead chipped in for some fries and a very expensive diet coke (spent $11 for those, yeah way to much). After the dinner the group headed out to go drinking down in Hollywood with other friends but I opted to head home instead. I'm not a big drinker, drinks cost money and I really wasn't in the mood to be in a bar.

So I headed back home and watched episode 2 of The Quest with my buddy Erik, and I have to say that I'm loving it more and more. The production values still blow me away and I'm loving the storyline. I also realized that one of my favorite Paladins (contestant) is my friend Bonnie who I met earlier this year at a friends birthday party.. I knew she looked familiar. If you're not watching this you are really missing out on something special.. especially if you're a fan of Fantasy like I am.

Anyways I found a cool Behind the Scenes video from the premiere episode. It's a cut/extended scene. If you watched episode one be sure to watch this video as well.

Firefly, The Voice & Baby Giggles

I came across this cool picture of a mashup of Disney and Firefly. Or if Disney created an animated version of Firefly... how shiny would that be. Love little River and that they have a pet Firefly.

I spent the evening watching The Voice blind auditions on you tube. I normally don't watch the "singing" competitions as I have a hard time with the really bad ones.  So I usually wait until clips are put up on You tube and I can pick to watch just the good ones. I really like The Voice as the judges only hear the persons voice and have to choose solely on that, looks play no part in their decision. What started out as a few videos turned into three hours that took me well into the AM.

Oh.. one more thing.. Baby giggles are the best... so I couldn't pass up sharing this hilarious video.. enjoy!!

Lunch, Laughs and Lightsabers

Today I had lunch with my buddy Chris or as he is commonly referred to by his last name Quilty. Chris is one of the my oldest and dearest friends. We go back to 95/96 and working together on The Dating Game. We don't see each other as often as we would like in recent years but we still try and get together a few times a year and when we do it's like no time has passed between us. We met up at Shakey's pizza parlor, it's been a tradition of ours to have the lunch buffet for the past 10 years or so.

It's always great catching up on each others lives. He is a father of two beautiful little girls and it's fun to hear of all his fatherly adventures. We both work in the entertainment industry, he's a producer. So we usually bitch and complain about work and the stress we are under. But overall it's just great spending a few hours with an old friend, eating really "bad" food and laughing.

Every year we say we need to hang out more and every year it doesn't happen.. but our lunches at Shakey's always makes up for that.

During the evening I got to play some Star Wars The Old Republic (SWTOR) with my buddies Chris (not Quilty) and Brett. We haven't played in over a month so it was nice to jump back into that world for a few hours. Hopefully it won't be another month before we get to play again.

HIMYM, Star Wars & Sundries

I came across this awesome mashup picture combining Star Wars with How I Met Your Mother. It's pretty awesome and I had to share it with my buddy Chris who loves both of those things.

My friend Felicia Day announced that her company Geek and Sundry has been acquired by Legendary Films. This is huge news and I'm extreme happy for Felicia and everyone associated with G&S. Can't wait to see what comes out of this collaboration. You can read more HERE.

Today was Lydia's last day of her vacation and the last day she'll be staying with me. She has been here for 33 days, but all good things must come to an end. I have to say it was nice having a roommate for a month but it will be nice to live alone again.

I really miss Star Wars Clone Wars but there is a new series about to start called Star Wars Rebels, unlike Clone Wars which took place between episodes 2 and 3. Rebels takes place between episodes 3 and 4, which is a section of time that we've never seen. Here's an extended preview of the pilot episode. Check it out below...

Cool Restaurant, Rocket & Baby Groot

Just an updated on my back.. it's doing better, a bit sore but a thousand times better then it was.

I saw this news story about this restaurant called Signs up in Canada, at first glance it didn't look like anything special but wow is it!!! Watch the video below.

I think there should be more restaurants like this. I've been teaching myself sign language over the past few years and I would love to be able to go to a place and have to try and order food. I love all the enthusiasm that the employee's have. For some of them it's their first "real" job.. how awesome is that.

I came across another story on Facebook about the creators of the new movie Guardians of the Galaxy honoring the man who co-created Rocket Raccoon. The gentleman is bed bound so they actually brought a copy of the movie to him (which is near impossible with all the legal red tape). Just goes to show you how awesome these people are. Read the entire story HERE.

A friend posted about this amazing Baby Groot figure on Twitter. It was being sold via Etsy so this was obviously someone who crafted it. It truly is amazing but the price of $40 bucks was just to steep for me. And at the time of me blogging about it, it looks like it was pulled so it's no longer for sale. Hopefully Marvel will realized that Baby Groot is super popular and make something similar for half the price.